Director's Note

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The Reconciliation of Light and Dark


Growing up, I was terrified of the dark.  I would awake to shadows being projected onto my bedroom walls and I would rush down the hall to my parents’ bedroom for protection.  My dad did his best to help.  He held me for a few moments and then, to my horror, he took me right into the thick of the darkness to show me exactly what was lurking there.  I could not believe what was happening.  Why would this person, whom I trusted implicitly, force me to face these nearly paralyzing fears?  Didn’t he know how scary they were? Gently, he spoke to me.  I remember his instructions very clearly, “Look.  See? There’s nothing to be afraid of here.”  

What I failed to realize then, was that he was preparing me to encounter any sort of shadows I would face in my future.  His first instruction was crucial.  “Look.”, he told me.  I had to turn toward my greatest fear.  He asked me to look at it so that when my eyes adjusted to the low light, I could see things as they really are.  He asked me to reconcile the darkness with the light.

Wendy Darling has a similar reconciliatory journey.  How does one balance light and shadows?  Remembering and forgetting? The pain of growing up versus the carefree heartlessness of childhood?  Ella Hickson’s adaptation of J.M Barrie’s beloved story brings these questions right to the forefront.  What follows for Wendy is not only an adventure of the grandest scale, but an experience similar to my own.  She must be brave. She must look.  She must see things as they really are. It’s only by doing so that she will understand how to reconcile the shadows in London with the light of Neverland.  

We have loved living with the magic of this story. It has transported us in heart, mind, and body. We hope that tonight you are also transported back to a place where imagination reigned.  More importantly, that you are able to take time to remember what was forgotten; to find a happy thought; to return to your own Neverland; to take flight with Peter, Tink, and the Darlings; to outrun your crocodile or your pirate, and to remind yourself that ultimately, to live is an awfully big adventure.